Medtronic Inc. said Friday it will pay $85 million to settle a shareholders lawsuit that accused the company of making misleading statements about its controversial Infuse spinal product.

Fridley-based Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) said in a news release that it "explicitly denies" that it engaged in any wrongdoing.

The suit was filed in December 2008 by the Minneapolis Firefighters Relief Association, which claimed the company misrepresented Infuse.

The shareholders claimed that Medtronic failed to reveal that as much as 85 percent of Infuse sales depended on sales where doctors would prescribe the product for applications not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. They also alleged that they were misled about the profitability of Infuse.

Infuse, which promotes bone growth, has been the subject of other criticism over the past year, especially about the way early trials were handled.

Industries:

Comments

If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.